Every Race is an Adventure!

I was solo and didn't feel up to a longer run so I decided to warm up a mile or so over to the THS track, push a mile, then take it easy for the mile or so back home. The splits were 10:37, 7:57, and 10:20. I felt good about a sub 8 flat mile. I'm still considerably slower than recent years, but I'm heading in the right direction.

Provo canyon with Larry and Kevin. We took it very easy the first two miles (10:58, 10:54) then Kevin and I picked up the pace some heading up (9:24, 9:15, 9:07). I felt pretty good on the way back down (7:57, 7:49, 8:15, 8:10, 7:55).

Lindon loop with Kevin, preceded by a little warm up before we met up. Average pace for the main 6 mile run was 8:51/mi. We maintained a pretty steady pace throughout.

Big hill 2000 N route with Kevin. The pace for the first two miles that include the big hill were 10:15 and 10:01. The last four miles were 8:11, 8:19, 8:47, and 8:37. Average pace overall was 9:02/mi. It's encouraging to be stringing together more and more sub-9 miles, with some getting close to 8.

No run. I had a painful blister where the new metatarsal pad on my right orthotic apparently rubbed on my foot during yesterday's run. I've had it for a couple of weeks without it bothering me. Maybe it was yesterday's big up and down hills that caused it.

Lindon loop with Kevin. My stomach was a little off this morning, but I made it through the run feeling pretty good.

Lindon loop, solo, in the rain. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I ran in Provo Canyon this morning...in the cold...in falling snow...in April. Boy I'm I ready for spring weather.

I ran the same 5 miles twice this morning, up 2.5 miles from the mouth of the canyon and back . The average pace for the first time was 8:31/mi, and 11:29/mi the second time (included some walking).

Kevin and I ran it first about 7:20am then met Larry and Wayne at 8:00am and ran it again. Kevin and Wayne actually ran 6 miles the second time, but I stayed with Larry and we walked a bit and didn't go as far.

It was great, and a little surprising, to be able to run with Larry at all. On Tuesday he was admitted to the hospital with a "mini" stroke. He had slurred speech and recognized it as a sign of a stroke so he went to the hospital. After a couple of days of monitoring and testing he was released and cleared for running as long as he checks his blood pressure beforehand. It sounds like this event may prompt Larry to make some diet and lifestyle changes that can only improve his running, as well as his overall quality of life. 

With no school this week...spring break...no carpool...and with the cold weather...Larry and Wayne not coming out regularly...and Kevin not running this week...I chose to sleep in this morning and run in the daylight instead of the dark. To my pleasant surprise it was not only daylight, but also clear and sunny. It was only about 33°, but it was still nice to run in the sun.

I ran roughly 1.5 loops of the neighborhood 5K route, 5.2 miles, average pace 8:56. I'd better get showered and off to work now. 

I ran solo the long Lindon loop, with some "change is as good as a rest" variations. We run this loop a lot but I don't remember describing it in my blog before. I'll do it now for historical purposes. It starts at about 4800' and is mostly level for about 2.5 miles. It descends 200' over the next mile (nice). It takes the last 2.5 miles to gradually climb back up to 4800' to end where we started. Normally that climb starts with a steep climb out of Lindon Park. The variation I took today heads east up a short steep hill on the street just before the park then turns south and passes through the big dip.

The weather this morning was 10° warmer than yesterday, in the low 40's. It was overcast with no wind. I chose shorts instead of long pants, and ended up taking off my knit gloves halfway through the run. Maybe nice spring weather will finally make it here soon.

I felt like seeing how fast I could run without overdoing it. I feel it went pretty well. I averaged 8:26/mi for 6.2 miles. This is over 30 sec/mi faster than just 2-3 weeks ago. My mile splits were 8:25, 8:29, 7:45, 8:45, 8:49, 8:30, and 8:22/mi for the last 0.2. I give the warmer weather and not wearing long pants a lot of the credit, but I do feel like I'm getting a little faster.

Larry said he might be out this morning. With his health issues I figured he'd want to go shorter so I put in a couple of easy miles (4+ laps around the block) before going to meet him. I saw his dog and a white hat, but it was on his wife Jolene. She told me Larry didn't feel up to running so I headed off alone. I wandered. I followed Main down to 800 N, then over to 400 E, up to 1200 N, over to 800 E (through the campus), then followed the canal path back to the Northridge bridge, then made my way home. Having pushed harder yesterday, I just took it easy this morning. I ended up with a total of 6.7 miles. Average pace: 9:37.

Today was my "first time of the year" run up the water tank hills. The temperature was in the high 30's, with a strong cold wind from the NW. It took me a little over 19 minutes from the bottom of hill 1 to the top of hill 5. That's a lot slower than my PR, but I was just happy to make it all the way without walking. On the "fast half mile" stretch from 400 E to Main on 1600 N I only got down to 8:16/mi. In years past, in my best shape, I think I've done it around 6:00/mi. Nevertheless, my running is on the upswing and I'm optimistic and content with the improvement I'm seeing. 

We went bowling as a family last night to celebrate Karen's birthday. (It's not until next week, but she'll be in Delaware at a family wedding.) On my very first roll I felt pain in my left hip. I went on to bowl two games (we won't mention scores), with the pain not getting worse but not going away. Since there is no school this week, this morning I chose to go with my son Andrew to play basketball instead of running. I figured if my hip bothered me I could just sit out and watch. My first 3 pointer was a bad air ball, and I had way to many turnovers, but I warmed up and ended up playing okay for me. I made a couple of 3 pointers, had some assists, a steal or two, and I even hit a game winner in one game. The hip didn't bother me at all. It was a lot of fun playing ball and seeing some of my old friends again.

I took two trips running up Provo Canyon this morning. I was supposed to meet Larry and Wayne at 6am at the mouth of the canyon but I was running a few minutes late so I called Larry and told them not to wait, I would catch up.

With Larry's mini-stroke about 10 days ago, Larry's taking it real easy. His doctor told him not to run, but that he could walk if we kept his heart rate under 120. He decided he could run at an easy pace and keep his heart rate under 120.

I caught Wayne and Larry pretty quickly as they walked until I caught them. Larry ran most of 5 miles, walking some of the uphills when is heart rate was getting a little high. I think 126 was the highest reading I heard him mention. It was good to be out with both him and Wayne. With Kevin on vacation, I ran solo everyday this week until today. Wayne had to be back to the car by 7am so he took off ahead on the way back.

After running 5.25 miles with Larry, I headed back up the canyon for more. I decided to go up about 4.5 miles; adding 9-ish to my 5.25 would get me around 14 miles.

I averaged about 10:35/mi for the first 5.25 miles, and 9:12/mi for the last 9 miles (9:49/mi for 4.5 up, 8:35/mi for 4.5 down). I felt pretty good still at the end, running the last 1.5 miles at 8:25/mi pace.

I'm encouraged. I'm going a little longer, going a little faster, and feeling a little less pain. The weather is (too) slowly getting more springlike. I enjoyed the improved weather this morning, but it was still chilly and I kept my jacket zipped up and my gloves on until the last few miles when the sun finally broke through the clouds.

Garmin was dead. I think Kevin and averaged just over 9:00/mi for the 6 mile Lindon loop.

As I was waiting for Kevin or Larry to come out Lyle passed by and stopped briefly. He said we would be looping around and if nobody showed to cut over and meet him at Main Street. Neither of them came out so I met up with Lyle again and we ran a few miles together roughly on the neighborhood 5K route. It was nice talking with him and hearing about my old Ragnar Relay's team run last Saturday. I wandered around after leaving Lyle for  a few more miles for a total of 6.2 miles, avg. pace 9:18/mi.

Kevin and I ran the 2000 N hill route. Our overall average pace was 8:57/mi, which is pretty good for me on this route.

Kevin and I ran the Lindon Park loop this morning. We were both feeling tired and felt like we were running pretty slow, but we ended up averaging 8:35/mi, which is pretty fast for me these days. It was encouraging to feel like I was running 9:00+ pace and have it be 8:35.

I was taking the day off work and could run later so I did. I ran the water tank hills for the 2nd time this year. I felt stronger and faster. I made it up the 5 hills in 17:17, almost two minutes faster than last week's 19:07. Coming home down 1600 N I ran Fast Half Mile Hill (400 E to Main) at 7:13/mi, over a minute per mile faster than last week's 8:16/mi.

Larry, Wayne and I headed out at 8am. Larry still isn't supposed to be running so he only went 3 very slow miles with us before he turned back. Wayne and I picked up the pace a little, but not much. We were both feeling pretty tired. This would be my first 40 mile week of the year, and Wayne was going to end up at nearly 50. We ran into Pleasant Grove near the cemetery then added a loop down to 1200 N and 400 E when we got back to get to 12 miles. It was an enjoyable, if not fast, run. We ended up with a total of 12 miles, avg. pace 10:11/mi.

Got out alone and followed the neighborhood 5K route for a couple of laps to get 6 miles. Avg. pace 8:54/mi. I pushed a half mile tempo run down to 8:14/mi pace at the beginning of mile 6, but mostly I treated today as an easy to moderate. It sprinkled on me a little the last couple of miles, but I beat the heavier rain that came later.

I was up really late last night. Also with Karen out of town, and two cars out of commission, I had to drive Brittany to UVU for her 7am final before driving the regular carpool this morning. I didn't manage to get a run in. I was hoping to get a run in later in the day, but with working from home and running errands, and seeing the cold wind whip through the trees, running just never made it to the top of my priority list for today. My hip was feeling a little extra sore so a day's rest may have been a good thing.

Kevin and I ran the 2000 N hill route in the 10-20° below normal-ish weather this morning. I felt pretty good about averaging an 8:52 pace on this hilly route. It's getting lighter in the mornings, which is nice.

5.5 miles, avg. pace 8:36/mi.

Cascade golf course route. 6 miles, avg. pace 8:41/mi.

We woke up to a couple inches of snow on the last day of April. Larry and I almost just went back in but decided to "run around the block". We ended up going 2.4 miles. Kevin caught up to us about a mile into it. We were all planning to help out with the neighborhood cleanup project at 9am. After the very easy 2.4 miles Kevin and I debated about going farther but finally decided to go get warm and fed before going out in the cold again to pick up trash and yard waste.